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Wildcat coach named top assistant in state
Scott Strickland
Richmond Hill's Scott Strickland, left, accepting the Class AAAAAA assistant coach of the year award from the Georgia Baseball Coaches Association. - photo by Photo courtesy of Stacy Bennett

Richmond Hill’s Scott Strickland was recently named assistant baseball coach of the year for Class AAAAAA by the Georgia Baseball Coaches Association.

Strickland, the Wildcats’ pitching coach, said he was “elated to receive this award on behalf of the young men who accomplished so much last season.”

What those young men accomplished was win 23 games, advancing to the Elite Eight in the state tournament after knocking off nationally ranked Winder-Barrow in the Sweet 16 to do so. The run came as the No. 2 seed in the region after four consecutive region championships.

“It was a product of hard work in the off-season and execution during the season by our pitching staff,” said Strickland, a social studies teacher at Richmond Hill Middle School. “Our run last year made some great memories and hopefully will motivate our team to continue to push this program in the right direction.”

Head Coach Stacy Bennett agreed.

“Coach Strickland has been a huge part of our program for six years now,” he said. “We build our program around pitching and playing defense, so that tells you how instrumental he is to our plan.”

Bennett added that the Wildcats have produced the region pitcher of the year the past four seasons and have seen eight pitchers go on to the collegiate level during that span, plus one — Chandler Newman — get taken in the Major League Baseball draft.

“Needless to say this award is just a small symbol of who he is and what he means to Richmond Hill baseball,” Bennett added. “I have the best assistant coaches in this state, without a doubt.” 

Strickland said he thinks the pitching for the Wildcats will be strong again this season.

“The team has the same expectations this season to make a push further in the playoffs,” he said. “We have a lot of our arms back that helped us last year and some new ones that I think could make a big splash this year. I’d like to thank our entire coaching staff and my amazing family for the tremendous support.”

The Wildcats have a home scrimmage scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on Feb. 8 against Savannah Christian, and open the regular season at home at 6 p.m. on Feb. 14 against Benedictine. 

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